NEW LONDO RUINS
One dead giant crow later, and the group was awkwardly packed onto the elevator beneath Firelink Shrine.
"Artorias! Keep thine hand to thyself!" Ciaran hissed, all too loudly for the cramped quarters.
Sure, they had wanted to move quickly, but stuffing everyone but the giants onto the elevator at once seemed a little too much. Sif alone filled most of the chamber, so everyone was either pressed against the moving wall or the wolf's furry chest. Lex vaguely envied the giants, who had been forced to climb down to the Valley of the Drakes. At last, they reached the bottom, and they tried to pull themselves free of formation. Those who could actually fit under the door were out first, with the two taller demigods stooping next, followed by the wolf twisting and squeezing through.
As soon as she was out, Sif began sniffing quickly and growled. Artorias nodded.
"You may need that ring, Chosen Undead," he said grimly. "Something is wrong."
Ciaran pointed with one of her tracers.
"Try using your eyes, dear. The seal is broken."
Much of the brackish, stagnant water that had flooded the city was gone, released into the Valley of the Drakes beyond. Both the servants of Dark and the vengeful ghosts created by its sealing were free.
"Who could have done this?" Lex whispered. "Did Velka Choose another Undead?"
"Captain," Artorias said, "permission to investigate?"
"Granted. Ensurest thou art not followed on thy return."
"I'm going with you," Lex said quickly. "If someone else is going after the Lord Souls, I just need to beat them there. And if Velka summoned another prophet, and they're going after the Four Kings first, they're going Darkwraith. Oscar can lead the others to Izalith – I need to make sure we don't hit a worst-case scenario."
Oscar nodded silently, but Artorias shook his head.
"This mayeth be a trap. 'twould be better that we don't risk an enemy getting hold of that ring, especially not a prophet who knoweth its use."
"Wouldn't Velka just get another one through some shifty method?"
The demigod knitted his eyebrows.
"I don't know how deep the Raven's treachery goeth. That 'shifty method' may be simple as lying in wait for this one. If thou thinkst it best, by all means, accompany us. Who am I to second-guess the great prophet who slew the Father of the Abyss?"
He saluted Ornstein, then quickly took off toward the sunken city with Sif at his side. Lex followed as quickly as he could on his much shorter legs, stopping only to catch his breath and collect the transient curses from the dead body in the jar. The sorcerous blue flames that lit the path were as eerie as always, but the ghosts weren't so much, Artorias hacking through the first two in a blur of motion. Lex held up one of the embalmed hands, watching disgustedly as it burned up and passed its artificial curse onto him.
"Give me a minute," he said quickly, turning around and entering a fallen covered walkway.
He stepped out of safety and onto a narrow bridge, quickly backtracking as ghosts rose up from the depths.
"Like fish in a barrel," the cleric said, smirking as he raised his sword.
The blast of sound shredded the ghosts' ethereal bodies like tissue paper, and he crossed through to the small room on the other side, where a mummified Fire Keeper lay. He put her soul in his bag and crossed back over to rejoin Artorias and Sif.
"What wast thou thinking?!" the Knight yelled as quietly as he could. "Now ourn enemies know we are here!"
"Oh. Well. Shoot."
"We will have to be all the more cautious. What does thine foresight see, prophet?"
Lex looked at the ground.
"It, uh, doesn't work like that. More of a long-term thing."
"I see. I suppose nothing wouldeth be so convenient. No matter. Even if this stench doth oppress my smell, my hearing is just as keen. Come, and prithee silence thine armor if possible."
He turned and moved toward the stairs.
"Wait a second! There's a shortcut!"
"Thou'rt like Ornstein," Artorias sighed. "Neither of you are capable of speaking quieter than a roar. Lead on, then."
The prophet headed around the stairs and hopped down onto a lintel right of the roof on which they were standing. It was a long jump down again into a watery courtyard, and he rubbed his shins from the pain. The demigod and his wolf were much more agile than a mere human, so they simply ran down the side of the building instead.
"Someone's been here ahead of us," Lex said thoughtfully, gesturing at the limp body face-down in the shallow water.
It was dressed in armor made of magic-hardened bone and dark cloth, and a blackened iron sword lay some distance away. One of the original Darkwraiths, from a time when that organization was comprised solely of corrupted knights of New Londo.
"No sign of injury," Artorias said as he examined the body casually. "It must have been magic."
Lex nodded and climbed the steps out of the courtyard. To his right was a narrow beam connected to a room apart. He squinted into the darkness, then crossed over. Inside was a chest, untouched. He looked behind it and smashed the pair of crumbling vases for fear of ambush, but seeing nothing, took the massive titanite chunk within.
"Strange," he murmured as he rejoined the Knight. "They took out the Darkwraith behind the illusory wall but didn't take the loot."
"If it ist as thou feared, the Raven may hath armed her new champion appropriately to do battle with thyself. Other treasures wouldeth just weigh them down."
Lex nodded and climbed another set of stairs to enter an open great hall. Sif's keen eyes quickly picked out more Darkwraith corpses, but there was no sign of life or unlife. Passing through the other side was more of the same: a dead Darkwraith around the corner and nothing more. In the distance, light streamed through the open gates, and the blue, horse-sized lizards outside perched absentmindedly. Directly ahead was a short, round building separated by worn bridge, with statues on either side of the fogged-off entrance.
"Fog's still there," Lex said thoughtfully. "That means the Four Kings are still kicking. The other guy's definitely been through here, but we weren't ambushed. Did they try waiting for us up top, or are they down there fighting right now?"
"In case of the latter, thou had best hurry, 'fore the bestowed shard of my Lord's soul is taken. Sif and I will hold this position."
The human shook his head.
"No need. If I win, I can head straight back to Izalith. If I lose, I wake up at Firelink and run down here again. You staying here just leaves you at risk. If you don't think you'll have any trouble with a bunch of drakes and one undead dragon, head across the bridge, down the ridge, then into the creepy cave.
Climb down until you reach the swamp, then find the giant ball of silk opposite the archtree. Preeeetty hard to miss."
"I see. Then as much as I regret being of so little help, I shall depart. I would wish thee luck, but thy foes are nothing compared to the Beast thou hast already slain."
With that, he hopped down into the lowest part of the ruined city. Sif barked apologetically at not being able to help again and followed after her master. Alone, Lex took a deep breath and looked at the fog wall as he absently changed rings. Sure enough, with a bit of experimentation he'd been able to wear four rings like in the second game, though the options from the first game left much to be desired. Havel's, Fury, Steel Protection, and now Abysswalking.
"Wait a second."
He crossed the bridge and looked closely at the statues.
"Isn't this the same statue as in the Painted World? I'm kind of confused but not really surprised that Velka was somehow involved in this. Hanser didn't seem to recognize Priscilla, though. Hm."
At last, he crossed through the fog. The usual ghost above the entrance was missing, so he edged his way along the short platform ahead and looked down at the long staircase spiraling into the Abyss.
"You know, I know that I need to hurry, but…"
He turned and began to jog down.
"I really don't want to jump and kill myself hitting one of those stupid things and then have to walk all the way back out here."
Several stories down, the stairs came to a sudden end, with only darkness below. He jumped, but there wasn't a clear falling sensation. The stairs and the small amount of light from above disappeared, and he found himself disoriented in utter blackness. At last, he felt something solid under his feet again, though when he moved, his noisy boots made no sound on the surface.
THE ABYSS
"You know, this is actually pretty creepy in person."
Not waiting for the first King to appear, he quickly activated his armor and set his sword alight. Right on schedule, the monstrous phantasm appeared in the distance. Only, instead of slowly approaching him, it was racing toward him as fast as it could fly.
"Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhelp!" it wailed with a voice like scraping glass.
It had nearly reached him when it stopped immediately, recoiling as if an invisible force had grabbed it by the throat. This close, his still-human face could be seen amidst the wispy tendrils of his deformed body. The King's head flung back, and he began choking, mouth gaping wide as a fountain of humanity erupted like oil from a rig. He dropped his wicked, spined sword, and began to shrivel. This was no dignified death like being slain and absorbed wholesale.
Rather, he shrank and withered until only an emaciated human in much too large robes remained. As the last soul fled from his body, he dried up like a hollow and collapsed into a pile of ash.
"Uh?"
The humanity shot through the darkness like black stars, winding around a great, gnarled staff. The white-knuckled hand that held the tree-sized catalyst bled black as the inky, toothed worm from which it emerged gnawed at it. The worm and its mate were the sleeves to a long jet cloak made of writhing shadow, the inside of which was was like a stomach lining, dripping with an acid ink that ate away at the gray phantasmal body that wore it. Atop the thing's head and covering its face was a broad-brimmed, tall hat made of fanged mouths that constantly licked their lips. After swirling about the wraith, the humanity at last poured into the mouths, causing it to grow even larger.
"Hhhhhhhey, kid!" it whispered like a hurricane.
It vanished in a whirl of darkness, only to appear behind him.
"Thhhhhhhat's some wwwwwwwonderful hhhhhhhumanity you're carrying! I can ffffffffeel it! Give it hhhhhhhhhhere, and I won't drain you dry!"
Lex whirled around and swung, his sword's Chaos flame sparking with the density of humanity in the Abyss. The creature flitted away, hissing at the light.
"I thhhhhhought we were fffffffriends, kid!"
"Oh god."
The humanity specter laughed Beatrice's high, mocking laugh.
"I'm sorry Gwyndolin killed you, but you need to stay dead instead of becoming a Deathlord or a hungry ghost or whatever's going on here."
"I don't thhhhhhink so. Shhhhhitty prophhhhhhhhet, you said I would die hhhhhhhere. The gods and their fffffate can eat me. Speaking of whhhhich, give me that hhhhhumanity. I need it I need it IneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneeditIneedit!"
She shrieked like a banshee, and her free hand shone white with the power of Lifedrain as she reached for him. He rolled under the swing and hacked through her wispy body, but it was like cutting air. Only the Chaos flame had any effect, hungrily spreading up her body like paper aflame. The wraith tore off the top layer of ectoplasm and vanished into the infinite Dark.
"Hhhhhow cruel! Howcruelcruelcruelcruelcruelcruel!" Beatrice giggled. "So you're only fffffriendly with monsters if you intend on boning thhhhem. Good to know!"
"Beatrice, you are legitimately insane right now. I don't really want to kill you, but I will definitely beat the crap out of you if you keep this up. Also because I don't have any homeward bones."
Suddenly, she appeared again and strafed past him, unleashing a string of Dark beads. Lex rolled into the stream as the orbs zipped toward him, ducking under one and running to his feet as the droplets burst behind him. He hardly had time to turn around as Beatrice waved her staff around her head and spun a massive ball of weighty Dark at him. It arced through the air like a stone from a catapult, and he was forced to break into a dead sprint to get out of its massive blast radius. He drew in close and hacked away at her ghostly gown before she vanished again.
This time, she couldn't get away. She couldn't maintain her apparent invisibility for long, and the Chaos flame eating at her robes gave away her position. She took pot shots with heavy orbs of Dark as she tried to bat out the fire. The cleric weaved through the blasts and chased after her, but as he neared, she abandoned her efforts at extinguishing herself to reach for him again. With the brilliant glow of Lifedrain easily recognizable, he was able to quickly jump back out of the way.
Yet as he did so, his bag tugged forward of its own will, trying to break free or to drag him into the attack. He slapped it with his free hand as he ducked under the massive witch's arm and ran his blade up her side. She screamed again, and the Abyss reacted to her pain, twisting space so that the next attack ran sidelong. Howling, she tore away her burning flesh and grew it anew before vanishing into the void once more.
"I'm not going to lie. That was pretty metal. But if you'd just give me that soul shard you got from the Four Kings, I'll be on my way."
"And whhhhhat would you do with it?" her voice echoed from every direction. "If thhhhhhis is Dark, if thhhhis is our true nature, then let the Dark ffffffall!"
The space began to contort again, and the Abyss itself lashed out as black tendrils. Lex ducked one way, then the other, as he hacked his way through the silent Dark. There was no roar of energy nor moan of pain. Now that the witch's voice had faded away, all was quiet. Even his attacks made no noise as they cut through the living ink, save the jingling of the rings along the back of the blade.
At last, he heard something, a faint rush of air high above. He hazarded a glance upward, only to find the Dark sorcerer conjuring up an immense orb of power. Though he wasn't sure how far he could run in the pitch blackness, he doubted he could escape the blast. Quickly, he reached for his talisman and hurled a lightning spear with all his might. Yet as the divine energy reached the monster, it crackled and dispersed.
"Yo, Quelaag?"
Her response was quick but pleasant, "Husband. I did not expect to hear from you so soon."
"Quick question. If I'm about to get blasted with a deathball the likes of which would destroy Namek, how do I avoid dying? Like, the caster is waaaay too high for me to hit or immune to lightning or something, and I don't think I can hide or get out of the way or anything. Should I duck and cover like a Cold War nuclear drill or what? I don't want to have to walk all the way back down here."
Quelaag sighed exasperatedly.
"What is the purpose of your sonic spells if they don't reach as far as they can be heard?"
"Attention-whoring."
"I don't know why I expected better of you," she groaned. "Have you tried the song that gatecrashing skeleton gave you? You are fighting those human Kings who fell to Dark, are you not?"
"Huh," Lex thought flatly. "I figured that'd be a Nito thing, but sure, I can try. It kept Nashandra out of the Shrine of Awful, I think."
He raised his talisman to his mouth like a microphone and began singing. His armor, attuned to his spiritual power, vibrated along with his voice, causing his tone-deaf screeching to fill the void.
"Oh, why?!" Quelaag moaned. "Why are you still transmitting? You're supposed to be killing them; not me! When this end of the world business is over, I'm giving you singing lessons. For now, try to follow my voice."
She began to sing slowly and clearly, remembering the song from the sole reading earlier.
"Wait a minute. I wonder…"
He felt the ring through his talisman and concentrated. There was a bit of static for a moment, then silence. Far above, Beatrice moved to drop the massive orb of Darkness.
"Okay, go! Gogogo!"
His wife's voice pierced the soundless Abyss. He felt a wave of calmness pass over him, and the Dark-fueled Chaos flame of his weapon quieted to a dull glow. Beatrice shook her head and dropped the bomb. Lex took a nervous breath, then began to sing along as best he could. He raised his sword, jingling the rings as he wound it in a circle.
The malice binding the Darkness peeled away, and the attack ruptured in midair, crashing upon the cleric not as a deadly explosion but as a mighty wave, washing him away. He struggled to the surface of the liquid Dark, coughing and sputtering as Quelaag's voice continued to resound from his armor.
"Dammit, kid, whhhhhhhat are you-?!" Beatrice hissed weakly.
She shook her head again, rubbing at her face with the back of her free hand.
"What…?" she said, her voice clearing as the Dark in her fell into slumber. "You can't! I won't give it up! I won't… My power… my power… is… maximum…"
Though she was still deformed by the soul of the Kings, her body had mostly solidified and shrunk to its natural size. She waved her old wooden staff to conjure up the Dark, but it could no longer hear her. Groggily, she managed to unleash a soul spear from her own power, but the cleric had no issues dodging such a slow and telegraphed attack.
"Fu… you…"
She swung at his head with the staff itself but fell over in a heap without it to support her. Lex yawned as the humanity within him fell asleep as well.
"Heeeeey," he yawned again, "Quelaag. Do we have a… a jail? Or a prison or something? Turns out the Four Kings got cannibalized by a fri… let's go with acquaintance. Anyway, she's crazy and mostly intangible and stuff, but I don't want to kill her if I can help it because this is indirectly my fault."
"We do not. Such a thing should not yet be necessary. Still, against my better judgment, bring her here. If need be, we can let Mother have her."
"Great, great. Thanks. Oh, and Quelaag? I have rediscovered sleep. Let's see if we can get this stuff to work on you and then actually use those beds for their intended purpose."
